Friday, December 04, 2009

Remember in grade school (or in my case, high school French class) when you'd get assigned to be someone's Secret Santa and give them little presents for a week? And trying to figure out who gave you that cardboard book of Life Savers? So fun! I hereby invite you to participate in a Filmi Secret Santa program, and the rules are thus:

In order to get presents, you have to give at least one. That is, to be assigned as someone's recipient, you will also get a recipient. The number of presents each Santa gives is up to them.

Keeping your identity secret for a week or so somehow that seems more fun. Obviously this could be tricky over email, but I will happily run interference if you want to send me your present and I pass it on to your recipient with the sender's details omitted :)

To participate, email me your name, email address, and website if you have one. This information will be given only to whoever is assigned your name.

I also recommend submitting a small list of your favorite films, stars, etc, so that if the person who gets your name doesn't know you well, they'll have a starting point for their presents. Otherwise you might end up with a Tusshar Kapoor fan video, and no one wants that.

I will assign names by writing them on slips of paper and drawing them out of a hat. Old school!

OPTIONAL: if you are inspired to give a 3-D present, you certainly may, but doing so is by no means required. If you would like to go into the hat for potentially getting a 3-D present, you will have to give me your mailing address and be aware that someone else whom you may not know will also be given that information.

I will assign names next Friday (December 11) at about 6 pm my time (GMT -6:00). You will get an email with your recipient's information. The present-giving can start any time after and go for as long as you want!

I'm not sure if you remember me, I'm a sporadic follower of your blog (sporadic, of course, due to time/personal life constraints, not ever due to loss of interest in your blog, I hasten to add..!), just had to comment on this post..

What an absolutely WONDERFUL idea!! It'll be absolutely wonderful to see the kinds of creative things people come up with - especially if that Shashi picture is anything to go by... oh my!!

I'd love to take part in it, but I'm not sure how 'regular' a person on your blog you have to be (especially as it will involve personal tastes and things, which others might not know about...)... and also, a suggestion for the 3D presents thing, if I may - perhaps they could send it to you and pay you for the extra postage, and you could send it on to the other person? It'll mean extra money and extra hassle, but it's all in the name of Christmas spirit?

Also, if I may, another suggestion - some people might go all out while others will want to keep it simple, perhaps it would be nice to match similar levels of complexities together, if they stated it to you?

Anyways, I'm sorry for butting in like that into your wonderful idea - it just got me really excited as it's two of the things I love - Christmas AND Bollywood (and the mystery of the unknown and trying new things...) - coming together!!

And no, one need not be a regular commenter/reader of this site (or any other) to play!

Sunrise, please do send your email so you can play! I think for now it's going to be confusing enough with the entries as is, so I won't be sorting based on interest level (maybe next year when people have a sense of how interested they are!). I also have enough going on at work that being the intermediary for 3D gifts is not possible - I'm sure everyone would like their presents by, oh, JANUARY 25, and even that is unlikely given my ability to ever get to the post office.

my other filmi projects

Bong Along - a blog on vintage Bengali movies co-written by Indie Quill and me (and perhaps a few very friendly appearances by other friends as well).

Masala Zindabad - the podcast by Indie Quill and me, often featuring other writers and fans as guests. Masala Zindabad is an affectionate and thoughtful look at the broad range of themes that define Bollywood and make Bollywood defy definition. Available at iTunes.

Mysterious Order of the Skeleton Suit - the Agents of M.O.S.S. are a shadowy confederation of like-minded writers, broadcasters, creators, and jetsetters who have banded together in a bold mission to bring international intrigue and pop entertainment to the masses. Can anyone stand in the way of their diabolical schemes?

pragmatics

Text (c) 2005–2014, Beth Watkins. The ideas and opinions expressed in this site are mine alone unless otherwise attributed. They do not necessarily represent the views of my employer or of any other organization or website with which I may be associated.